In addition to the many winter events, the fundraising event "Freezin' for Hunger," sponsored by the Food Pantry of Waukesha County, returns as well.

Karen Tredwell, executive director of the food pantry, said after a one-year hiatus, it is back with a kick-off at 4 p.m. Friday and goes until midnight in downtown Waukesha.

Volunteers and pantry staff can be found on the corner of Clinton and Main street near the Steaming Cup coffee shop where they will accept non-perishable food items and monetary donations for the pantry.

This year West Main Street from Clinton Street to Wisconsin Avenue as well as on Maple Avenue (from Main to Wisconsin) will be under construction as a new roadway is constructed as well as new light fixtures are installed and the underground infrastructure is upgraded.

According to documents submitted on March 2 by T. Wall Enterprises' attorney, Brian Randall, more than 60 of the units in the East wing building will now be used as senior housing for residents ages 55 and older.

The plans state that no assisted living care or health-related services will be provided, but a catered meal program will be offered if requested by the residents.

The developer has previously said that the apartment complex — which is triangle-shaped bordered by Maple Avenue, Williams Street and North Grand Avenue — was being geared for young professionals, empty-nesters, and Carroll upperclassmen and graduate students.

March 02, 2015 10:00 a.m. | Rich Sanchez grew up in the kitchen, and now he is giving a new eatery a second chance to grow.

Sanchez, 39, and his business partner, Tanner Janusz, are taking over The Spoon, a counter-service restaurant on Hartwell Avenue, just off Main Street, in Waukesha that serves soups, pies and sandwiches.

"My brother was always in the garage with my dad working on cars and such, and I was in the kitchen with my mom," said Sanchez, who grew up in Waukesha and is a 1994 Waukesha North High School graduate.

That is the belief that Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier had and the reasoning that they gave police in interviews on why they executed a plan to stab their former classmate to death last May.

In their own words, Geyser and Weier told detectives when being questioned by police they believed that Slender Man, a fictional Internet horror character, would kill their families and they had to do his bidding so they would be safe.

"It was necessary," Geyser, 12, said repeatedly during a nearly six-hour police interrogation shortly after being arrested last year.

Weier, now 13, said during an approximately three-hour interview, "I was really scared knowing that Slender Man could easily kill my whole family in three seconds" and she told a detective that "some people were going to kill my family unless I did something very bad."

Feb. 26, 2015 5:35 p.m. | A new future could be on the horizon for the Waukesha County Museum, assuming the city can live with more "upscale" apartments as part of a plan that would help save the financially struggling institution.

That's something that isn't clear at this point, given the common council's recent decision on an unrelated, but similar, apartment plan that was ultimately rejected.

Interim Waukesha County Museum chief executive officer Tom Constable said last week that a local developer is willing to buy the museum's buildings at 101 W. Main St. from the Waukesha County Historical Society and Waukesha County Museum.

The sale, however, is contingent on the city giving the apartment project an approval, said Catherine Huelsman, who is part of the development team — Historic Prairieville Limited Partners — that would purchase the museum site.

As part of the redevelopment, the developer would add 42 market-rate apartment units, making room by tearing down two other buildings on the museum's property: the old jail built in 1885 and a connector building built in the 1930s.

2 A caller reported that a male was lying under a garbage bag at 1820 Oakdale Drive at 1:14 p.m. Feb. 12. However, police determined the caller was mistaken because when he showed police the bag there was nobody there and no footprints around it. Police said the movement was probably the breeze blowing the bag.

3 An intoxicated male was in the hallway threatening the caller with a broomstick at an apartment at 410 E. Main St. at 6:26 p.m. Feb. 12. The landlord advised the man that he is being evicted. After all of the parties went back into their rooms, the man came back in the hallway and continued the disturbance. He was subsequently arrested.

Feb. 25, 2015 4:57 p.m. | Jason Barnhill of Hartland and Lance Keota of Oconomowoc, suspected of holding up a Waukesha bank on Feb. 20, have been charged in Waukesha County Circuit Court for crimes related to the alleged robbery.

Barnhill, 33, was charged as party to a crime of robbery of a financial institution and with misdemeanor bail jumping.

Keota, 26, was charged with felony robbery of a financial institution.

According to the criminal complaint, Barnhill and Keota robbed the Associated Bank, 100 E. Sunset Drive, at gunpoint. Police later discovered the weapon used by the men was an airsoft gun, not a real firearm.

Bank employees said in the complaint that both men entered the bank at about 10:30 a.m. dressed in dark clothes and wearing masks. One of the suspects, identified in the complaint as Keota, was waving what appeared to be a gun; he jumped over the bank counter and stole nearly $5,500 from a teller's drawer, the complaint said.

Feb. 25, 2015 3:43 p.m. | Waukesha — Prosecutors in the Slender Man stabbing case argue that a defense theory that would require dismissal of adult homicide charges against two girls is a defense that should come into play only at trial.

Both the state and defense have filed briefs before Waukesha County Circut Judge Michael Bohren's decision March 13 on whether to continue the case in adult court or throw it out and let prosecutors refile a lesser charge in juvenile court.

Morgan Geyser, 12, and Anissa Weier, 13, were charged in June with being parties to the crime of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, in the May 31 stabbing of their friend, Payton Leutner, in a Waukesha park.

At a preliminary hearing last week, Geyser's attorney argued that the more appropriate offense is attempted second-degree homicide, because Geyser, diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia, believed that if she didn't kill her friend, Geyser and Weier and their own families would be killed by Slender Man, a fictional Internet character.

Anthony Cotton, Geyser's attorney, argues that the state failed to prove Geyser did not act on that fear, citing the extensive evidence at the preliminary hearing about Geyser's beliefs and behavior. Attorneys for both girls have said their main concern is to move the case to juvenile court.

Feb. 25, 2015 12:11 p.m. | The two suspects accused of robbing an Associated Bank last week have been arrested.

Capt. Ron Oremus said Wednesday morning that charges of robbery of a financial institution for the suspects - Jason Barnhill and Lance Keota - were being referred to the Waukesha County District Attorney's Office.

On Wednesday afternoon the DA's Office charged Barnhill with robbery of a financial institution-party to a crime, a Class C felony, as well as bail jumping, a misdemeanor.

Police said it is believed that approximately $10,000 was stolen in the robbery. Clothing and a fake weapon have been recovered as evidence, Oremus said.

According to police, the men robbed the Associated Bank, 100 E. Sunset Drive, at gunpoint at 10:28 a.m. Friday, Feb. 20. No shots were fired and no one was injured from the incident.

But the county is now taking the steps to see if a developer could repurpose the historic building on the county courthouse grounds in the city of Waukesha.

The Waukesha County Board passed a resolution by a 19-6 vote on Tuesday, Feb. 24, directing county staff to put out requests for proposals (RFP) to essentially advertise the building, one which county staff had wanted to see razed.

Following the approval of a similar establishment earlier this year, a second wine bar, Spring City Wine House, is looking at filling a vacant storefront at 336 W. Main St. — a storefront located within The Clarke Hotel.

Wine with technology

Feb. 23, 2015 8:00 p.m. | More than a month after his alleged role in the fatal shooting of a gas station clerk in Waukesha, Darrin Malone, the third and final suspect in the case, was found this week.

Malone was arrested on Monday, Feb. 23, in Milwaukee, said Kevin A. Carr, the U.S. marshal for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

Malone, 28, had been wanted by the Waukesha Police Department since the armed robbery homicide on Jan. 13 at the Citgo station, 1445 Whiterock Ave. He has already been charged with felony murder-party to a crime in the shooting death of 65-year-old Saeed Sharwani of the town of Brookfield.

Malone was arrested at a residence in the 4000 block of N. 48th St. on Milwaukee's north side at approximately 2:30 p.m. Monday without incident, the U.S. Marshals Service said in a news release.

The U.S. Marshals Service also said Malone's brother, Jovany Butler, was arrested at the residence.

2 An intoxicated male was trying to talk to the caller's 3-year-old son on the corner of East Broadway and North East Avenue at 3:41 p.m. Feb. 5. When the woman told him to stop talking to her child, he started swearing.

3 An intoxicated man who had a knife was in the warming center at St. Matthias Episcopal Church, 111 E. Main St., at 6:40 p.m. Feb. 5 and threatening "to kick everyone's (expletive)." He was arrested. The center's manager took the man's knife away.

4 The catalytic converter was cut out of an Air Systems Engineers truck at 305 Wilmont Drive prior to 11:28 a.m. Feb. 6.

5 A caller reported a Santa Claus decoration was hanging from what appeared to be a noose at a residence at 1122 Perkins Ave. at 12:04 p.m. Feb. 6. This mannequin has been repeatedly called into police over the last several weeks.

A free Chinese Lion Dance Show will take place from 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, in the restaurant's parking lot within the Golden Gate Centre and inside the restaurant, 1427 E. Racine Ave.

The event features firecrackers, music and lucky money ($1 to $100 while they last).

Lucky money is a Chinese New Year's activity where parents give their children red envelopes in the evening, with good wishes for their kids staying healthy in the coming year. Red envelopes always have money in them.

Money put in red envelopes is believed to bring good luck, as red is a luck color.